Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?
by Tofu-Monstrosity
Summary: Who watches the watchmen? Who keeps them safe? No one. Special Agent Gibbs finds that out the hard way as his family is put in danger by someone whom he never met. AU family-verse Jibbs
1. Grounded

**AU Family-verse. As a father and a special agent he's supposed to keep everyone close to him safe. When a body is found by his young daughter it will turn his whole world on its head. Things only go from bad to worse as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs has to solve the murder and keep his family safe before it's too late. This prompts him to ask himself, who watches the watchmen?**

Ziva kicks her feet up on the end table. She relaxes on the couch, disgruntled that she is grounded. The dark-skinned 16-year-old Israeli girl throws her head back; her dark hair spills across the back of the couch. Right now, she would be down at the lake house with her father and her brothers, Tony and Tim. But, her father found she went out with Michael Rivkin, a local bad boy from across town. Ziva's father was angry, to say the least, so as punishment she couldn't go down to the lake house for the weekend. So Ziva was stuck back at the house, babysitting her little sister Abby.

Ziva stares at the ceiling of their large home. Her mother won't be home until late. So she was stuck with her little sister until 6 o'clock tonight. Ziva sighs, grabbing her book to read, it was quiet save for the faint music from Abby's room drifting down the hall and stairs. Ever since Tim gave her an I-pod for her birthday she always played it. Ziva tunes the annoying music out and tries to focus on her book. Ziva gets enveloped in the plot when the little 8-year-old voice screams from upstairs.

"Ziiiiivah!!!" Abby shrieks. Ziva expects the worst. Thinking Abby set the house on fire, Ziva races up the stairs faster then a bolt of lightning and burst open Abby's room. All looked the normal and the little girl (who was very fond of black) was standing on her bed, looking petrified at something on the floor Ziva couldn't quite make out from her position in the doorway.

"What is it Abby?" Ziva asks her composure regained after seeing as there was no immediate danger. Ziva can't help it, she still has not gotten used to America after living on edge in Israel.

"There. Kill it!" Abby points to the floor and Ziva follows the pale finger to a dark spot on the carpet. Upon further inspection from the teenager, Ziva finds it to be a spider.

"Abby, it is a harmless…" Ziva starts to say before her little sister cuts her off.

"Kill it!" Abby yells.

"No, it is harmless…" Ziva tries to reason with her sister, but it soon fails as Abby screams:

"Kill it!!!!!" Ziva takes a near by shoe and bashes the little thing until it was dead.

"Happy now?" Ziva asks her little sister. Abby smiles brightly and gets off of her bed, enwrapping Ziva in a huge hug.

"Thank you Ziva!" She smiles, Ziva rolls her eyes and tries to pull Abby off.

"You are welcome." Ziva turns to head back downstairs when Abby stops her.

"I'm hungry" Abby says.

"Make yourself a sandwich" Ziva turns around again but Abby runs to catch up.

"Do you have a Caf-Pow?" Abby asks, referring to her favorite drink of choice, the Caf-Pow, clinically proven to kill brain cells.

"No, Father said no Caf-Pow's during the week." Ziva likes rules; she likes to stick to them too.

"Ziva it's summer!" Abby protested.

"And father said no!" Ziva exclaims and storms down the stairs. Abby follows her older sister, right on her heels.

"Please…" Abby gives Ziva her puppy-dog look. This always made their mom break, but not Ziva. She stood firm.

"No. I am already grounded enough" Ziva says. Abby pouts.

"Ok then fine. I'm just going to head over to the impound place…" Abby says she's in that "I'm defying everything you say to prove my point" phase. Ziva chases after her as Abby sprints out the door and runs full speed down their street and at the edge of the navel base where the impound lot was. The space between the two sisters was closing fast, for Ziva was great at athletics. Abby disappears in the impound lot as Ziva enters the maze of skeleton like cars.

"Abby!" Ziva yells, her voice heard by the shells of the vehicles. "Abby!" Ziva calls again, hoping to hear a response from her little sister. Instead there is silence. Ziva grows anxious, as Abby does not respond. Ziva tears through the junkyard, hoping to find her sister. "Abby!" Ziva calls out again; imagining horrible things that her father would do if he found out he lost her. Ziva turns a corner and there is her little sister. Staring up at a car on top of a pile. "Abby…" Ziva starts to scold before her eyes find what Abby was looking at. A dead marine was hanging out of the car. He was in full uniform, his dog tags jingling around his neck.


	2. Time of Death

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything used! Except Agent Taylor and Cat. **

**I usually can't stand OC's but they're necessary for the story to progress.**

Ziva with Abby by her side, left the impound lot and called the cops. Soon NCIS was there. Ziva wanted to avoid that, although she knew she couldn't. Her mother steps out of the car.

"Ziva? What are you doing here?" the tall, slim redheaded woman asks.

"We…uhm…found the body" Ziva explains. Jennifer Gibbs looks shocked. Her two daughters found a dead man in a junkyard. Jen (as she is affectionately called) quickly whips out her cell phone and calls her husband. Telling him to get up here fast. After ending the call she turns back to Abby and Ziva.

"What happened?" Jen asks, coolly.

"I was running because Ziva wouldn't let me have a Caf-Pow" Abby starts explaining. "I wanted to go down to the impound lot because I saw them get a new '69 Mustang. Ziva chased after me. Did you know that Ziva is a good runner? She should run like track or something." Abby starts to ramble but a gentle nudge from her sister keeps her on track. "And there was that dead guy in the car." Abby finishes.

"And I called the police." Ziva adds. Jen nods.

"Is that true?" Jen asks, her gaze shifting more towards her eldest daughter. Ziva nods her head. "Ok, Ziva, take Abby home." Jen orders. Ziva nods and they start to walk back home.

The NCIS van drives up. The older man lurches out of the passenger side. Muttering something about traffic and how his assistant seemed to be hitting all the red lights. The man with the polka-dot bowtie smiles as he sees Jen, his step-sister-in-law.

"Hello Jennifer" The man smiles brightly as he says this in his thick Scottish accent caused from living in Scotland most of his life. Jen does not smile back at him like she normally does. "What's wrong?" The man asks.

"Dead marine." Jen states, her voice dry.

"Yes, we deal with that sort of thing everyday, Jennifer, where is Jeth…" The man starts to ask before Jen cuts him off.

"Abby and Ziva found him. Jethro's on his way" Jen states bitterly. The man's face fell.

"Oh my, my, my" He shakes his head as his lanky young assistant trots up next to him.

"Sorry Doctor Mallard" The young man apologizes.

"Yes Mr. Palmer" The man says, his mind wandering.

"Ducky!" Jen calls from the crime scene to the medical examiner with the snazzy lab coat and handsome accent.

"Right away Jennifer." The man, one Donald Mallard and stepbrother to one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, responds and with his assistant treading on his heels, he makes his way to where Jen is standing.

The car comes to a screeching halt outside of the impound lot. A tall, muscular and rough looking man gets out and slams the door shut behind him. His ice-cold blue eyes assess the situation. Jen walks out of the impound lot and looks into those eyes.

"Dead Gunnery Sergeant" Jen states blankly. Leroy Jethro Gibbs, husband to Jennifer Gibbs gives her a stare that tells her all that he's thinking. "Ziva and Abby went home." Jen understood.

"Tim and Tony are at home too." Jethro said in his rough craftsman like voice. A wave of relief passes over Jen as she knows they're all safe.

"This way" Jen turns on her heel, Jethro follows her into the lot. They walk the labyrinth of gnarled cars until they make it to where Ducky and his assistant are handling the body.

"Time of death, approximately…32 hours ago" Ducky stands up and looks at his stepbrother. "He has marine issue dog tags. They say his is Gunnery Sergeant…"

"Dylan Sprigg." Jethro states, looking upon the body of his colleague. The man didn't look a day over 40. His chin was broad and defined as well as his nose. His callused hands told the story of a hard working man and his eyes, if they were open, would tell the story of his abandonment and trying to gain acceptance in the world. For Jethro, it was hard to see his past bite him in the ass. Jethro wished he could see Dylan's smiling brown eyes again.

"You knew him?" Jen breaks Jethro's mental saunter.

"Yes. We were in Desert Storm together." Was all the information Jethro let leak out from his lips. Ducky and Jen nod in response "Where's Agent Taylor?" Jethro snaps back into his usual hard ass tone.

"He should be here soon. I called him not too long after I called you." Jen explains. Soon enough a sports car turns off its engine and a tall well trimmed man races into the lot.

"Sorry I'm late boss" The man says as he pushes back some of his unruly dark brown hair.

"Pictures. Give all evidence to Cat in the lab." Jethro orders, referring to their forensic technician, and fiancé of the Senior Field Agent who just walked up, Catherine Devin.

"Yes sir." Agent Taylor obliges and starts to snap photos of the scene. Jethro turns to Jen.

"Go home to the kids Jen." Jethro states. "I got this from here." He lets loose a small smile that Jen could only see. She smiles back, not as discrete as he and takes her car and heads up the street. Jethro turns back to the task at hand. "Time of death Duck?" Jethro asks.

"Approximately…32 hours ago Jethro." Ducky looks to his stepbrother. "How are the children?" He asks.

"They're fine Duck." Jethro snaps.

"Are you sure Jethro?" Ducky knows when his stepbrother is hiding something.

"Jen is with them back at the house." Jethro looks to his field agent gathering evidence and taking pictures. Ducky lets the subject go as Jethro walks to his agent.

"Not a lot of blood. The killer probably had him bleed out somewhere else and then dumped the body here where no one would find it" Agent Taylor assumes.

"Then why was the body in full view of anyone who passed by?" Jethro raises his silver eyebrows.

"Good point…" Agent Taylor gets back to work bagging and tagging the evidence and getting a truck to move the car the Gunnery Sergeant was found in.

Jethro interviews some of the workers at the lot. All of them didn't notice a thing out of the ordinary. The scrap lot was huge and they didn't think it necessary to secure the place. Jethro had solid alibis from all three employees and curtly walked off back to the scene of the crime, cursing under his breath.


	3. Results

**Chapter 3. Reviews or flames are greatly welcome.**

Back at the house, Jen was a wreck. Her children were taking it well, watching that new zombie movie on TV. But Jen was nervous as hell, call it women's intuition but something didn't sit with her right. Why was the body the way it was? Why did Abby stumble upon it? All the "Why's" buzzing in her head sounded more like a beehive that kept pestering her. She wished Jethro would get home and console her, say it's nothing and go to work the next day trying to solve the "Who done it" But it wasn't that easy, not with the murder being so close to home, not when her children are in danger. Jen doesn't believe in coincidences, but she hopes that this whole ordeal is just that. A coincidence.

NCIS was a buzz of chatter. The word of one of the Gibbs kids finding a body really had the office in a tease. Jethro just types at his computer not making eye contact with any passing agent. That is, until Agent Taylor drops a file on his desk.

"Background information on the gunny, thought you might want it." Agent Taylor's voice was stone cold. Jethro nods once and pushes his chair back; the office chatter dims and Jethro summons the elevator down to autopsy.

"What do you got Duck?" Jethro asks, unannounced as always, walking into Ducky's lab.

"Gunshot wound to the head. Execution style. Clean cut as well, and our poor victim isn't telling me a thing Jethro." Ducky informs. Jethro tries to mask the look of disappointment etched clearly on his face. "I am sorry there is not much else to tell you Jethro. How is Jen doing?" Ducky changes the subject.

"I don't know. Haven't talked to her" Jethro states bluntly and briskly walks out of autopsy. Ducky looks back down to the corpse.

"You poor thing. You don't know what you've gotten yourself into."

Jethro's next stop is forensics. He can hear the show tunes from the elevator as he walks into what was christened "The Cat Cave" a while ago.

"Please tell me you have something Cat" Jethro states dryly. Cat turns her show tunes down.

"Boss, I can give you this. From what I've been able to pull off of the body, which wasn't much, there are distinct fibers not found near the site where the victim was found. They're upholstery from a car a car that from what I've seen in the pictures was nowhere near where the body was. I'm running a scan on that now." She informs. "Other than that, I tested the blood and found our victim was entirely sober when he died. So he was either taken by surprise or knew this man pretty well. Other than that, I got nothing." Cat turns around to find Jethro gone. She brushes an auburn lock of hair out of her crumpled face and continues checking evidence.

Jethro whipped out his cell phone. Speed dialing his house. It rang a few times and then got picked up.

"Gibbs residence, Anthony Gibbs speaking. How may I help you today?" Tony says into the receiver.

"Tony, get your mother on the line." Gibbs barks.

"Yes sir" Tony was no-nonsense as he realized whom he was talking to and passed the phone to Jen.

"Please tell me this is a call to assure me that the killer was apprehended" Jen states somberly with a twinge of humor in her voice in knowing that wasn't true.

"No. We don't have much, just stay with the kids. I'll be home late tonight." Jethro informs.

"Can we expect Ducky home at a reasonable time?" Jen asks.

"Yeah." Jethro says and snaps the phone closed and walks into the bullpen. "Ron. Plasma" Jethro orders and Agent Taylor gets the notion and pulls up digital files on the plasma screen TV.

"Ok, so Sprigg was a first class Marine Gunnery Sergeant. He was a junior gunney when you worked with him but was since promoted. He was off duty and lived in Norfolk. He had a girlfriend but she died a few years ago from breast cancer. He has no living relatives and is pretty much a loner from what all I can tell." Ron looks to his boss like a dog would expecting a treat. From Jethro though, a treat was a nod of approval, that in which Ron received.

"Norfolk. Grab your gear." Jethro states, picking up his hot coffee left by the newest intern and leads Ron to the awaiting car outside.


	4. Discoveries

**Thanks for all the alerts everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I offically have an Abby T-shirt, but I don't own anything in the show.**

Ron braces himself inside the car. Jethro's driving is crazy; thankfully Jen drives the kids most of the time. Ron feels queasy as Jethro screeches his car to a halt. They end up in front of a small house. Just enough for one person to feel comfortable in. Jethro gets out of the car, his signature trench coat trailing behind him. Ron scrambles out of the car to catch up. Both agents drawing their sigs as they approach the house. Jethro jiggles the handle and finds the door unlocked, they carefully walk inside. Guns drawn they check the rooms.

"Clear!" Ron yells, checking the bathroom and living room areas.

"Clear." Jethro lowers his gun.

"Uh…Boss…you should check this out…" Ron says shakily from the living room. Jethro walks into the living room carefully.

The room was plain, one moldy couch and pictures everywhere. These pictures weren't the usual family photos. They were family photos all right, but not of Sprigg. Of the Gibbs family. Ron and Jethro look around the room. There's the moldy couch with an end table in front of it with a new laptop.

"Get the laptop…" Jethro states, Ron nods obeying his boss.

Jethro looks at the walls. Photos litter most every square inch of the walls. The pictures start after Jethro got back from Desert Storm. There are only two pictures of Shannon and Kelly, and those pictures were from newspaper clippings. There was a picture of Jethro, alone with Tony and Kate to raise by himself. Then there was a picture of Jethro and Jen's first date years later. Jethro's artic eyes flow over more pictures like a timeline of his life. There's a picture of Jen and Jethro's wedding. Jethro can't help but smile at the picture of Tony as the ring bearer and Kate as the flower girl. Jethro looks at more pictures, one of Jen pregnant about a year after that. There's a picture of Ducky, Kate and Tony at the hospital the day Abby was born. There's a picture of Ron and Cat at the bar on Jethro's birthday years ago, before they were engaged. There's a picture of Kate's 14th birthday. Jethro's eyes fall upon a newspaper article of only a few days later "Local girl dead" He won't forget that headline. That was when Kate and her boyfriend got in that car accident, the one that ended her life too early. Jethro sees pictures of the funeral. Then of Tim's adoption only a few months later. There are pictures of Christmas's and birthdays. Jethro's eyes fall upon a picture of the profile picture of Ziva that they received with the adoption papers. Years pass by in a few seconds, as there's a picture of last Christmas and Tony's 16th birthday where he got his yellow sports car. There was Tim opening his acceptance letter from MIT so he'll graduate early. There was a picture adjacent to that with Ziva reading her book, her feet kicked up on the table. Then Jethro's eyes fall on a picture of Abby dancing to her music in her room. All of these are among many more just like them from various times and places.

"Do you want me to collect all of these?" Ron asks looking up from the camera he was taking pictures of the scene.

"Yes. Collect as much as you can. I'll call forensics." Jethro states walking into the hallway and calling Cat and the forensics team. When Jethro ends the call he looks at his cell phone. He was debating weather to call his wife and inform her about what he found. He looked through his contacts, passing her name and going to Ducky.

"Duck. I need you here stat" Jethro says into the phone.

"Jethro…I didn't think there was a body…" Ducky starts to say but Jethro cuts him off.

"There's not. But I need you here." Jethro says and gives Ducky the address of the home of Dylan Sprigg.

"Alright, Mr. Palmer and I will be there shortly." Ducky responds.

"No. Tell Jimmy to go home. Just bring Cat and forensics." Jethro ends the call abruptly.

"I'm no expert, but I think this guy had issues…" Ron says and brings Jethro's attention back to the task at hand.

"What makes you think that?" Jethro's voice was even as he asks the rhetorical question.

"Right. Still bagging and Tagging boss" Ron says and goes back to work, heeding Jethro's unspoken command. There was about 15 minutes of silence as Ron bagged and Tagged and they waited for forensics and Ducky to show up. Finally they did.

"Now, what is all the fuss about…" Ducky asks as he walks into the living room. A significant amount of photos still on the walls. "Oh my…"

"Whoa…serious nut job here…" Cat murmurs under her breath. Ducky eyes a photo taken only a few months ago when Ducky took Tony, Tim, Ziva and Abby to the amusement park.

"Is there anything here to get a psyche evaluation?" Jethro's stone eyes turn to Ducky.

"Well, lack of television, family, personal belongings and an abundance of pictures of your family, it seems to me that gunny sergeant Sprigg was more of a son to you then you know…" Ducky states.

"What makes you say that Duck?" Jethro raises a silver eyebrow.

"Well, it seems to me that after he lost everything, he became attached to the only thing he could rely on. You." Ducky looks to Jethro.

"And my family Duck?" Jethro was perplexed.

"It seems so."

"Boss, I got something!" Ron calls. The doctor and special agent walk briskly over to Agent Taylor who had a few photos laid out with Cat's help.

"What is it?" Jethro asks, impatient.

"Well, see here." Cat points to a figure in the background of one photo. "And here." She points to the same shadow on a different photo, then on another and another. "It's connected. I don't think the gunny that's dead was your stalker." Cat finishes.

Back at the house, the Gibbs kids were board. They turned finished the movie and were stuck at home.

"What about that one game you play so much…Cyclone?" Ziva asks, sitting up on the couch.

"Twister" Tony corrected, "No, that game just puts us in weird positions, and you're flexible as hell." Tony shudders.

"Ok…well, do you have anything else in mind, oh Master of Gaming?" Ziva mocked.

"I got it! Scene-it! The game where you have to answer questions about movies!" Tony's face lights up.

"No Tony! You beat us every single time!" Tim whines.

"It's not my fault McNugget that none of you have superior movie knowledge like I do" Tony scoffs.

"What about Mortal Kombat? I got multi-player mode" Tim suggests.

"No! you know all the cheat codes!" Abby protests. She perks up, "I got it charades!"

"Abby, you always cheat at that game" Ziva crosses her arms.

"I do not!" Abby pouts back.

"You're the one dad taught sign-language to!" Tony throws his arms in the air.

"Ok, well, let's play a game we're all bad at…." Tim offers.

"Alright McDork like what?" Tony asks, sitting back and looking at his younger brother with anticipation.

"Poker. We all suck at poker" Tim stated, smiling triumphantly.

"That sounds good to me" Ziva says. Abby nods in approval. Tony smirks, getting to his feet with the rest of his siblings.

"As long as it's not strip poker!" Tony smiles evilly. Ziva whacks him in the back of the head like their father usually does. "Hey!" Tony holds the back of his head, when Ziva hits him, it's usually hard and with more force then Jethro.

"That was for that thought even crossing your mind Tony" Ziva growled and followed Tim and Abby up the stairs to Tim's room.


	5. Funny Feeling

**Dun...Dun...Dun...Chapter Five**

Jethro gets home with Ducky around 2 in the morning. As usual, Jen is awake and waiting for them when they get home.

"What happened?" Was the first thing she asked, and judging by the expression on Jethro's face, she knew it wasn't good. Jethro sat on the couch and prompted Jen to do the same.

"We went to Spriggs house." Jethro starts. "What we found was disturbing, in the least." Ducky sits down as well on the Lazy Boy.

"This man, he was, infatuated." Ducky states bluntly.

"We have these." Jethro pulls out a zip lock baggie from his trench coat pocket, inside were a few of the photos from the scene. Jen's hand flies to her mouth in shock. Her eyes grow bigger and bigger at each one.

"Oh my God…Jethro…" Jen utters.

"Yes, and we think he had an accomplice." Ducky says, pointing out a few pictures. "This man" He gestures to the shadowy figure.

"So, you think this man turned on our victim?" Jen asks, worry evident in her voice.

"That is exactly it. And we think he might be after us as well." Jethro says, Jen cradles her head in her hands.

"It will be fine Jennifer" Ducky tries to reassure her.

"No! It's not ok!" Jen yells and stands up. "My babies are in danger and you're trying to tell me it'll be ok!?" Jen yells, furious.

"Calm down Jennifer…" Ducky tries to cool her off.

"Calm down!? How can I do that Ducky!?" Jen yells. "My family is in danger and I just have to sit here idle by and watch!"

"You're putting too much emotional stock into this Jen," Jethro tries to reason with her but it falls on deaf ears.

"Hell yes I'm putting emotional stock into this! It's my family Jethro!" Jen shouts.

"We'll talk about this later…" Jethro picks Jen up bridal style and carries her down the hallway to their shared bedroom. Ducky sighs and walks up the stairs to his room. He could've sworn he heard footsteps trot away as he ascended the stairs, but he blamed his ageing ears.

But there were footsteps. The footsteps of 5 Gibblets that raced into Tony's room.

"What do we do?" Tim asks.

"I don't know McNosey!" Tony responds, his heart racing as fast as his siblings are. Tony referring to an old childhood nickname he adds "Mc" at the beginning of a word to signify his little brother.

"Well, that was obviously not for us to hear…" Ziva whispers harshly.

"Then why would mommy yell so loud?" Abby asks, holding her farting hippo tight.

"Ok, we need to calm down…" Tony tries to breathe. "It's just case stress. Dad's explained it to us before."

"Mommy said we're in danger" Abby only hugged the hippo tighter.

"It doesn't take Nancy Drew to figure that out." Tony rolls his eyes and the kids all look at each other.

"Let's pretend we didn't hear anything. Dad and Mom will solve this." Tim states.

"And if they don't, we're stepping in!" Tony throws his fist into his open palm.

Tony wakes up late like usual over the summer. He is half asleep as he walks in the shower. Today is the day he has to take his sisters to the mall. Abby was bugging him all week about going to that new toy store in the mall. Today was the day he promised they would go. This was one of the things that Tony did not want to do. He would be dragged into numerous alternative stores by Abby, geek tech stores by Tim and various antique stores by Ziva. Tony was sure to be in for a load of fun. He rolls his eyes and steps out of the shower. He dries his hair and gets a t-shirt and jeans on.

Of course, Abby was up at 5 am like usual and was bouncing around excited for the day. Tim was getting breakfast and reading the paper and Ziva was in the shower. Tony runs a hand through his shabby brunette hair, sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee.

After Ziva dries her hair, Tony was getting board.

"Ok, I'm going to get the car ready" Tony states to anyone who would listen and heads out the front door. He smiles as he sees the yellow sports car. The car that his dad gave him for his 16th birthday sits proudly in the driveway. Tony strokes the hood of the car. His eyes fall on a note under the windshield wipers. He quizzically picks it up and inspects it like he's seen his father do.

He opens the folded piece of paper and it reveals what looks like a ransom note. All the different letters cut out of various sections in different magazines. Tony reads it:

Stay out of it or you and your family will be sorry

Tony folds the piece of paper in two. He looks around to see if any of the neighbors was playing a prank again. No one was out. Tony races into the house and bounds up the stairs two at a time and closes Ziva's door.

"What do you think you are doing?" Ziva growls, she was fully dressed and ready to go but still angry that Tony would barge into her room without knocking first.

"Doesn't' matter. Look what I found" Tony waves the paper. Ziva snatches it and reads it. Her deep brown eyes look at her older brother.

"Are you sure this is not just a prank?" Ziva smiles a little, but that fades as soon as she sees Tony's worried face.

"I don't think it is. Not with what's been happening lately" Tony responds.

"Calm down. I am sure it is nothing. Let's just go shopping and you can give the letter to father when he gets home tonight." Ziva explains.

"Something's still not right, I need to see those pictures that mom got so worked up about last night. Ziva, I don't feel right about this" Tony mutters.

"It is nothing" Ziva takes the letter and puts it under her pillow. Ziva takes Tony's arm and leads him down the stairs. "Let's go!" She storms on, with Tim and Abby following close behind and they all pile in the car to head to the mall.

Ron was pouring over paperwork at the office. Cat's been running facial recognition for hours on the blurry image she got from the photos. Jen's been with the director for about an hour, Vance angry and insisting she not work the case and she insisting that she does work it.

Jethro was with Ducky in autopsy.

"I've told you Jethro, without a complete profile, the psychological exam cannot be complete." Ducky explained.

"I know Duck. But I knew this man. He's not the kind of man to stalk somebody. Sprigg was one of the best men I worked with." Jethro looks at Ducky with his ice-cold stare.

"I know, he was there when they broke the news to you that Shannon died." Ducky contemplates to himself, but as usual said it out loud. Jethro growls slightly. Ducky notices this but keeps going. "Now, you see, these pictures here." Ducky points to a few pictures of the Gibbs family. "They're taken from a distance by a telescopic lens. He wouldn't get too close. That is unusual for there is a wide margin for him to loose you. But, he was very careful not to be seen." Ducky says.

"Somewhere along the line, he turned into a stalker" Jethro states dryly.

"And what we're trying to find out is how" Ducky mutters.

Tony was being dragged into Hot Topic, Second Time Around Antiques, and Tech World and not once was he able to go into a video store or a sports shop.

"Can we go get lunch or something?" Tony pleads his siblings.

"I wanna go into that new store!" Abby said and grabbed Tony by the arm and drags him faster down and into another store. Tony moans and goes in. Ziva and Tim follow. Ziva looks over her shoulder, the feeling that Tony described before was now tingling in her gut. Something wasn't right.


	6. Danger

**Chapter 6 and I still don't own anything.**

Jen storms out of the director's office in a huff. Ron and Jethro look up as she walks across the catwalk and down the stairs. Ron goes back to his typing while Jethro walks out of the bullpen and meets her at the elevator. They both enter at the same time silently as they have the whole elevator to themselves. Casually, Jethro leans over and flips the emergency stop switch. He turns to his wife.

"What happened?" He asks her. Jen held back tears.

"Vance threatened to remove us from the case. He said that we're too emotionally attached to the case." Jen snaps.

"Let me talk to him." Jethro reassures.

"Jethro. I do not want to be removed from this case. It's too important" Jen growls.

"Go home. I'll talk to Leon" Jethro states, flipping the power back on to take the elevator down to the parking garage. Jethro watches his wife walk out and the doors close to the elevator as it takes him up back to the director's office.

Ziva turns back around, ignoring the tingling feeling of someone watching her. She follows the others into that new store whose hard rock music could be heard a few stores away. Tony was eyeing the cashier as Abby was picking out a pink studded dog collar to wear as a new fashion statement. Ziva looks around at the other customers in the store. A tall man in a huge gray sweatshirt looked over curiously at her as her dark eyes glanced in his direction. He set the key chain down and started to walk over to where the Gibbs kids are. Ziva sprints to Tony, both he and the cashier turned to the suspicious man.

"Run!" Ziva yells. She and Tony sprint out of the store. Tim grabs Abby's wrist and they're not too far behind. The man breaks out into a run after them.

"Over there" Tony points to the escalator and runs down it, pushing people aside and clearing a path for Ziva, Abby and Tim. Tony runs like a basketball player assessing his options and covering for his team as he drills them down the court. But this wasn't a sport; Tony feels a horrible twinge of danger in his stomach as they race down into the parking garage. The sure-footed, heavy footsteps of the man following them becoming louder and louder.

Jen turns off her car as she pulls into the driveway. Something wasn't right. She slams the car door shut as she approaches the front door of the house. It's open. Jen draws her sig. She enters the house with the stealth of a cat. Her gun pointed ahead of her as she checks each room. The house is ransacked. At first Jen thinks it's just the kids getting into another argument. The piece of paper on the table only raises more suspicions.

Jethro convinced Vance to let he and Jen stay on the case. He walks back into the bullpen.

"Boss, we've hit a dead-end. Cat can't get a hit on the DNA found on Turner's jacket on any criminal records in the area." Ron informs. Jethro sits down at his desk. A determined look on his face, he calls down to forensics.

"Expand the search of the DNA to all active marines during Desert Storm." Jethro hung up the phone before Cat could respond to complain that doing so would take hours. Jethro calls down to Ducky in autopsy. He tells him to go home. He hangs up the phone. "You to. Take Cat with you."

"But boss…" Ron starts to protest.

"You two have a date tonight." Jethro says as more of a statement then a question.

"Yeah at Ben's Chili Bowl, we've had the reservations for a year now. How did you…?" Ron started to ask before Jethro cut him off.

"Your damn computer wouldn't stop beeping this morning" Jethro smiles for a little bit before his phone rings.

"Jethro. We've got a problem" Jen's voice was clear as day through the receiver.


	7. Bad Omen

**Chapter 7 **

**Thanks for all the favorites and alerts. If you all would leave a review here or there that would make me so happy. I would have to send virtual cookies through the computer screen.**

"I'm on my way" Jethro slammed his phone down hard on the receiver. His kids will have hell to pay from him. That is, if they survive their mother of course.

Back at the house, Jen was furious to see Tony's car speed to a halt in the driveway and come to a halt. She was relieved they weren't hurt in any way but was livid to see the terrified looks on their faces.

"What. Happened?" Jenny asks between clenched teeth. Immediately, Tony, Ziva, Tim and Abby froze in place. Tony was the first to speak.

"Well, we all went down to the mall. It was good to get out of the house for a while. We went shopping." Tony smiles nervously.

"So please explain the utter mess in the house!" Jen yells. Now the kids look entirely perplexed.

"What mess?" Ziva asks.

"This one!" Jen pushes open the door more to reveal the mess inside the house. The kids step closer and peer inside the chaotic house.

"Whoa, what did you do?" Tony asks.

"What did I do?" Jen was officially loosing it. "I came home and it was like this! What the hell do you four think you're doing!?" Jen scolded. The Gibbs children looked astounded.

"We didn't do anything mommy!" Abby defended. Jen grew angrier and ushered them all inside.

"Explain." Jen orders in her special agent voice. The house was ransacked. The four Gibbs kids were shocked.

"What the hell?" Tony asked as he walks in. "Did they take anything?"

"I don't know, did you?" Jen asks.

"What are you saying!? We didn't do anything! We simply left to go shopping!" Tony argues.

"Really? Who could've gotten into the house then?" Jen taps her foot.

"I don't know! Not us!" Tony defends. Jen's expression softens.

"Did any one of you write this?" Jen held up the piece of paper that she found on the end table earlier. It read in ketchup:

"Haha Jethro."

That was it. That was all it said. "Pretty good prank. Now, to your rooms all of you." Jen snaps.

"Mother…" Ziva started to protest.

"NOW!!!" Jen yelled. The four kids ran upstairs. Jen looks back over the house. The mess was horrible and made Jen really wish she had hired that housekeeper. Jen started cleaning the floor, picking up the random things thrown about. Jen set the various DVDs back on the shelf where Tony organized them. She sighed and picked up Tim's videogames. She was making her way to Abby's stuffed animals and Ziva's glass trinkets from Israel (which weren't broken to Jens delight) when she heard Jethro's car roar into the driveway. Jethro barges into the house.

"What the hell happened here!?" Jethro asks.

"I don't know. The kids don't know either." Jen sets one of Abby's stuffed animals on the couch.

"Robbery?" Jethro asked.

"Nothing was stolen, just ransacked. I think the person who did this was looking for something and they didn't find it" Jen deduced.

"Are the kids ok?" Jethro asks.

"Yes, they were out" Jen explained. "All that was left was this." Jen showed him the note.

"You think it was the kids?" Jethro asked.

"No. I think it was whoever is doing this is involved in the case. Jethro. I didn't want to suggest that to the children." Jen explained what her mind expertly concocted.

Tony snuck down the hallway. He tapped on Ziva's door.

"Zivah! Lettme in!" Tony whispered. Ziva reluctantly opened the door. "Should we tell them about that creep in the mall?"

"No. That man was probably a peddler trying to sell us something" Ziva states.

"You're probably right. We don't want to scare Timmy or Abby." Tony shrugs.

"Or father will have your head on a steak." Ziva chuckles.

"Yeah…" Tony starts to laugh but thought about it and didn't find it very funny. He pouted his lips together in a funny way to show his discouragement. Ziva only laughed more.

Only about 20 minutes later the house was filled with its usual sounds. Abby's music blaring from her room, Tim's videogame sounds, Tony's movies and Ziva silently reading. The smell of Chinese takeout wavered in the air.

"Dinner!" Jen calls up the stairs. In a matter of moments three hungry teenagers and a small girl race down the stairs. Jen takes cover in the kitchen as her children bound down the stairs to the kitchen table. Jethro places the takeout on the table and soon the whole family digs in.

They eat for a while, Tony non-stop talking about the various stores Abby dragged him into. Abby would spit her commentary in at moments as well. The whole while the Gibbs kids avoided any mention of the man in the mall. Dinner was almost finished when the phone rang. Jen got up to get it, as she was putting her plate in the sink.

"I got it." Jen announced. She picked up the phone, her tone of voice going deeper and sadder. "Jethro?" She called her husband into the kitchen where the landline was. Jethro nodded and got up. He looked at his wife. She looked shaken, he didn't press and he watches his wife order their children to bed early to much protesting. Jethro turns back to the phone.

"Why was your cell phone off?" The voice of Director Leon Vance asks.

"Turned it off, had to deal with family issues." Jethro responds.

"Yeah, well we have more issues at hand." Vance says, his voice deeper. Jen looked at Jethro from clearing off the table. She knew something was wrong. "Jethro, Ron and Cat are dead. They were shot at Ben's Chili Bowl at approximately 6:34 p.m. I'm sorry, but I need you and Jen in late as well as Ducky for autopsy, I have temps assigned to fill in. I'm sorry Jethro." Vance hung up the phone.

Jethro hung up as well and turned to his wife. His eyes were filled with sadness as he looks at his wife, they often had the engaged couple over for dinner and they babysat countless times for all four of the Gibbs children.

"They're dead Jen." Jethro's voice was cold.


	8. Home Invasion

**In case anyone is confused: Tony is 17, Ziva is 16, Tim is 15 and Abby is 8. Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

Jethro called Tony down the stairs. Tony obliged, seeing Jen put her coat on Tony looked perplexed.

"What's going on?" Tony asks.

"Something happened down at the office. We have to go in late. We won't be home for a while. Watch your brother and sisters while we're gone." Jethro ordered. Tony nodded, still confused.

"Where are you going? What's going on here?" Tony asks. Jethro sighs to himself and turns to his eldest son.

"Cat and Ron were murdered." Jethro states. Tony looks shocked. "Look after Ziva, Tim and Abby. Don't tell them." Jethro states. Tony nods in understanding. There were plenty of times where Tony didn't tell his siblings things. Like the time before Kate died, when Tony got the pneumonia really bad. He couldn't tell Kate and Abby how bad it was (though Kate found out later and wouldn't leave him alone about it). There were times where he had to be the man of the house when Jethro got hurt from his job horribly and when Ziva got in trouble with her boyfriend. He had to be there when Tim found out he had a biological sister. He had to be there when Abby was being made fun of at school because of the way she dresses. Now he has to be there for this. To be honest, it hurts him every time. Cat and Ron were close to family. Tony puts on a façade of normality and goes upstairs to his siblings.

Jethro and Jen speed to Ben's. The place was evacuated and metro was there. Cat and Ron were both shot point blank range in the forehead execution style. Just like gunny Turner from earlier.

"Same killer." Jethro states. Jen goes to the bodies. There are two notes. One on each body.

The note on Ron was written in his blood. It read:

"This gets personal."

Jen goes to the note on Cat.

"Your children are next."

Jen let go of the note written in Cat's blood like it was on fire. Jethro looked over.

"What happened?" Jethro asks then he sees the note. His face goes void of any emotion.

Tony sat down on the couch in the living room. He flips through the channels seeing if there was anything on cable to get his mind off of things. "The Green Mile" was on so Tony watched that.

Abby was the first to come downstairs. Tony assumed that would happen. She has what Tony deemed "emphatic superpowers" Abby snuggled up next to Tony on the couch. They both started watching the movie. Now, Tony was guessing Ziva to walk down the stairs next. But judging by the footsteps it was Tim. Tim sat down on the lazy boy that was usually Jethro's chair. Tony only had to wait a few minutes later when Ziva's lithe footsteps came down the stairs. She sits on the other side of Tony. They were all silent as they watched the movie.

Meanwhile at the crime scene, Ducky inspects the bodies of the field agent and forensic scientist. He is silent as he does it, which is unusual. Jethro pulls Jen aside to try and calm her down.

"Ok, Jen I'll go home. I'll check on the kids. Then bring them to the office. Ok, they'll be safe there." Jethro reassures. "For now, help Ducky." Jethro orders.

He storms into his car. Jen watches him drive off and then turns back to Ducky.

Tony hears the door open. At first he thinks it's their father. But Tony looks to the door whose lock was busted. Standing there was the man from the mall. He is tall and has strict facial features. Tony leaps to his feet. Ziva is up in a matter of moments Tim is up next. Abby is asleep. Tony grabs Abby and they race downstairs to the basement. Tony races down the stairs with Tim on his heels. Ziva holds the door. Shots were fired from the man and Ziva only held her position.

Tony grabs some wood as Abby clings like a magnet to Tim. Tony races up the stairs and blocks the door.

"Ziva, grab the gun under the workbench." Tony orders. Ziva nods, knowing exactly where the gun was stored. She checks the clip and finds it loaded. She carefully climbs the stairs as the man bangs against the door. Tony looks at Ziva as she prepares herself on the landing. Tony holds the door as the man bangs against it with his shoulder. Tony counts down on his fingers. He hits one and Ziva fires. The bullet fires through the door and grazes the mans shoulder. He screams and pulls back. There were sounds of stumbling and harsh footsteps and then they faded and disappeared. Tony's heart finally slowed. He slunk down against the wall and fell to the floor. Ziva noticeably relaxed as well. Tim held the crying Abby.

"Ok, cool off everyone. He's gone." Tony says. Not too long after those words escaped his lips the door starts to bang again. Abby screams. Faster then Tony could turn his head; Ziva was on her feet, gun poised and ready. Tony holds his own against the door. The man yells in anger and uses his good shoulder as a battering ram against the door. Tony could hear the wood splintering. "Tim I could use some help here!" Tony called. Tim left his efforts of comforting Abby and ran up to the landing where Tony was trying to hold off their attacker. Tim got the other side of the door and he put his ear against it. Hearing a scratching sound.

"He's got a knife," Tim mutters quietly.

"And we got a gun." Tony responds. "Ziva, on 3 shoot, but fire at the floor. Scare him away." Tony orders. Ziva nods silently and fires on the count of three under the door past Tim and Tony's feet. The man yells again in fear and his heavy footsteps can be heard fading again. The Gibblets sit quietly for what seemed like eternity. Abby races up the stairs and attaches herself to the nearest sibling, which in this case was Ziva. Abby could feel Ziva's heartbeat still racing as she lifted her finger off of the trigger of the gun, take the clip out and set it aside. Tony's breathing is labored as he slides back down against the doorframe. Tim's adrenaline still hasn't worn off as he sits down as well.

They sit in silence before Abby fell asleep, Tim followed not too long after that. Then Ziva and Tony fell asleep at roughly the same time.

It seemed like they were asleep for no more then a few moments when there were more footsteps and a knock on the door to the basement awake all of the Gibblets. Tony jumps in the air, gripping the handle.

"Anthony, Ziva, Timothy and Abigail Gibbs you better open this door now!" Their father yells, they could tell he was mad by him using their full names. Tony breathes a sigh of relief and opens the door. Revealing a very flustered Jethro Gibbs standing in the doorway. "Why may I ask does Ziva have a gun?" He asks, strangely calmly.

"Someone was here." Tony took the liberty of explaining.

"I noticed by the front door being broken into." Jethro was still strangely collected. "All of you, on the couch." Jethro pointed to the sofa of choice and the four Gibbs children left the basement. "What the hell happened?"

"Well, there was this guy…"

"We were watching "The Green Mile" Which is a great movie with Tom Hanks…"

"He was armed Father. We were frightened…."

"Daddy! It was horrible!"

All four of them started talking at the same time. Jethro had to hush them.

"One at a time, what happened?" Jethro stated still irregularly calm.

"We were watching "The Green Mile" which was on TV…" Tony started.

"Then suddenly we heard the door open and there stood a man." Tim adds.

"He was tall and mean looking and covered his face like he did at the mall…" Abby says, but let her tongue betray her and slip up about the mall incident.

"He looked like he did at the mall?" Jethro repeats. "So, you've seen him before?" Jethro says as more of a statement than a question. The Gibbs children are silent. "Answer me!" Jethro yells in his interrogation voice.

"When we were at the mall yesterday, a man chased us. He had the same build as the man who broke in tonight." Ziva states in a soft monotone. Jethro rears back, Tony swore he saw steam come out of his nose like a cartoon bull.

"Alright. In the car all of you." Jethro says, turning to the door. The Gibbs children sit there dumbfounded. "We're going to NCIS and you are explaining to your very worried mother what happened last night and yesterday. All of it. Go." Jethro orders, immediately following orders the four of the kids race to the car and pile inside. Jethro closes the door of his house and starts the car to NCIS headquarters.


	9. Revelation

**Reviews are better than a helicopter coming to the rescue while your being chased in the African Plains by a very hungry cheetah.**

Ducky's autopsies were tedious. He tries to be very accurate all of the time. But seeing as this is his first (and hopefully only) autopsy he's preformed on one of his colleagues he tries to be very accurate.

Ducky didn't like to see the two lovers exposed as they were so he covered them with the sheets he kept. So caught up in his grief he barely heard the doors swish open.

"Hey Duck" The voice of his younger stepbrother rang through the autopsy room.

"Hello Jethro" Ducky turns around to see Jethro standing there with a puzzled look on his face. "Ah, I just finished the autopsies on Ms. Devin and Mr. Taylor. Or should they be Mr. And Mrs. Taylor?" Ducky ponders for a moment as if his friends were still alive. But they're not so he drops the question.

"How is everything here Duck?" Jethro asks, sitting on one of the empty, cold metal autopsy tables.

"How do you mean? I'm afraid you have Director Vance in a mighty big mess." Ducky can't help but smile a bit at his younger brothers antics. "However." Ducky's voice turns darker. " The temps were last minute. I'm afraid Ms. Stanton cannot quite adjust herself to Catherine's lab. And Mr. White is a bit…gun-shy." Jethro can't help but smile and laugh a bit it was exactly like Leon to give him the third-string agents. "Well Jethro. How is the family then?" Ducky smirks. Jethro smiling, knowing that Ducky should probably get an apartment until this case is closed.

"Jen? She's absolutely furious." Jethro smiles. "Why else do you think I'd be here?" Ducky can't help but laugh.

"You did what?!" Jen was furious.

"We didn't do anything…" Tim mutters under his breath.

"Oh God, you could've been killed. Twice! And not telling your father or me!? What were you thinking?" Jen yelled. The whole office was watching the escapade playing out in the bullpen. Though most were trying to act as if it wasn't happening. But when Jen was angry it was worth watching. That, and the Gibbs children were always welcome company at NCIS.

"I really don't like it when Mommy is mad…" Abby mutters.

"You will really not like it missy!" Jen roars. Jethro, being Jethro, senses the tension in the bullpen and walks in.

"Kids, Uncle Ducky wants to see you" Jethro smiles, Jen looks at Jethro with fire in her eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jen asks through clenched teeth.

"Stopping you from turning this into a bigger scene." Jethro explains and makes his way to the elevator. Jen on his heels angrily trotting behind. Jethro is calm as he and his wife step into the elevator. They wait and Jethro flips the emergency stop switch.

"Tell me you're not mad about this" Jen states, knowing he is angry about the whole thing that unfolded at their house a few hours ago.

"I am mad. They shouldn't have hidden this from us. But our children are capable of holding their own. You have to understand that." Jethro explains. Jen rubs her temples.

"I know Jethro. But I'm not so sure now that there's a killer on the loose that's killed two of NCIS's top employees. He's threatening my children Jethro!" Jen felt hot tears well up behind her eyes. She blinked them back before they could make themselves present.

"We haven't been totally honest with them either." Jethro explains. Jen wraps her arms around herself and faces away from him in shame.

"It's for their protection" Jen backs up her reasoning.

"No it's not Jen. They're staying here tonight. You can keep an eye on them with Ducky if you want. I've got a killer to catch." Jethro states, his voice firm as he flips the emergency stop switch back on.

"When you catch him, please make it painful." Jen smiles a bit. Jethro winks as the elevator doors open on the Autopsy level. Jen gets out.

"I will" Jethro states finally as the doors close, cutting them off from each other.

Jethro takes the elevator up to Vance's office. As usual he storms in, finding Vance crouching over paperwork.

"What is it Jethro?" Director Leon Vance asks as he sets his reading glasses down.

"I need a working team." Jethro says in his demanding voice.

"I've already assigned an agent to your team…" Vance starts to say but Jethro cuts him off.

"That's the problem. I don't need another agent." Jethro announced, leaning himself against Vance's desk so the two men were face to face. "Leave Jen and I on it. We'll take care of this." Jethro said softly.

"This won't turn into some revenge plot that will leave me to deal with the press and loose ends will it?" Director Vance asks.

Jethro only smiles and leaves the directors office as fast as he came in.

The Gibblets didn't know what to do with themselves. That was a recipe for disaster. All it had to start with was one paperclip thrown at Ziva by Tony and all hell broke loose. It turned into a screaming match between the two eldest Gibbs children. Meanwhile Tim was content playing games on Ducky's computer and Abby was alone in the corner, hating it when her siblings fight.

Ducky had to separate the Tony and Ziva and then calm Abby down. Jethro called Jen back up to the bullpen so Ducky hoped they had a lead so they could bring this horrible man to justice.

"Who wants to go on a tour of NCIS, hum?" Ducky asks, sounding like it was going to be an enjoyable experience.

"We've seen NCIS so many times Uncle Ducky!" Tony complained.

"But you haven't seen the evidence garage, or the ballistics lab, or the cyber crime department or the inside of Agent Taylor's desk" Ducky smiles, though he had to choke a little to get out Agent Taylor's name. Immediately all of the Gibbs kids' faces brightened.

Jethro did get a lead. Apparently the mother of the dead gunny Sprigg had a few things she needed to clear up. Jen and Jethro's car ride was in silence as they then pulled up in front of the well to do house in suburbia. They only rang the doorbell twice before an elderly lady answered.

"Gibbs." Jethro flashes his badge. "NCIS. You said you had some things concerning your son."

"Yes, come in!" The elderly lady welcomed the two agents inside and into the parlor. The whole place looked like a funeral home. Ornate rugs and curtains lay on the floor and hung by the windows. Jen wanted to puke. The elderly woman was very hospitable though and offered them both some coffee. An offer they both accepted. She sat down across from them in another flamboyant piece of furniture.

"What did you want to tell us Mrs. Sprigg?" Jen cut right to the case. Mrs. Sprigg set her cup down on the glass coffee table.

"Yes. He was a good boy my Dylan." Mrs. Sprigg states.

"And what was it you wanted to tell us?" Jen asks again. Mrs. Sprigg goes on as if she didn't even hear her.

"Yes, he was a good boy. He would have never of even dreamed of killing someone." Mrs. Sprigg said in a dreamy like voice. Jen and Jethro turned to each other. Jen spoke.

"Ma'am, your son was a Marine sniper. He did kill people and he's dead and his accomplice is still on the loose and is making threats against my family!"

Mrs. Sprigg still looked like she was on another planet, staring into her coffee intently. "Yes, he was a good boy, different after he got back from the war. You know how war is." Mrs. Sprigg stated as if Jethro and Jen were following her train of thought. "Yes, but when he got back he kept telling me of this man. What was his name? Freemont I think…yes. Isaac Freemont." She now had Jen and Jethro's attention. "Yeah, talked about him a lot. Him and Jimmy from down the street. Poor Jimmy, he didn't make it back from that war…" Mrs. Sprigg trailed off. Jethro looked intrigued.

"Well, thank you for your time Mrs. Sprigg but we should probably get going." Jethro states.

"What do you mean get going? You just got here!" Mrs. Sprigg protests as she snaps back to reality. Jen looks at her husband who took all of this in stride.

"Yes, but duty calls ma'am" Jethro smiles pleasingly and they both leave the house.

Jen waited until they were on the road. "What the hell was that all about?" She asks her husband.

"Probably Alzheimer's. But she did give us some good information." Jethro explains.

"How do you know that? Half of the stuff she said was probably a lie!" Jen exclaims.

"No, because I remember an Isaac Freemont and a Jimmy Peters." Jethro fills in. "So, I think we got this wrong. Sprigg wasn't the unfortunate partner in crime. He was trying to stop all of this from ever happening."


	10. Break Down

**Writters block sucks. I finnaly got over it though thanks to football! Yay! Almost finished with this. Thank you all for the comments and favorites. I love them all!**

Jethro was pouring over paperwork. He had the case files of gunny Sprigg, gunny Freemont and petty officer Peters. Jen was calling all relatives of Freemont and Peters to try and get any contact.

Meanwhile, Ducky was trying everything he could to keep the Gibblets entertained. Abby was entertained with the evidence garage. Her love of cars and fiddling with her hands put a particular twinkle in her eye.

Then Ducky took them on a tour to cyber crime. This had Tim like a kid in a candy store. Soon he was looking at all of the computers in the room just waiting to find an open one to play with.

Ducky showed Ziva the interrogation rooms and they met with the audio tech working in the observation room.

They move on to the bullpen. Tony saw Taylor's desk empty. He knows why. Tim walks over to the desk and sits in his chair.

"Haha Tony! I'm sitting in his desk!" Tim smiles. Knowing how much Tony always wanted to do that. Tony shrugs. Ziva raised her eyebrows.

"Tony, what is wrong?" She asks.

"Let's go back down to autopsy shall we?" Ducky tries to advert the situation. He was looking for Jen or Jethro. But they were out getting information from Peters' family.

"No! Ron has candy in his desk." Abby says and pulls open Ron's top drawer. Instead of a bag of candy, she pulls out Ron's sig. "Why is his gun here?" Ducky rushes over and grabs the gun and takes it away from Abby.

"Ron wouldn't leave his gun behind. What's going on Tony? Ducky?" Ziva looks to her older brother and her uncle.

"Let's see if we can go see MTAC. That'll be fun." Ducky smiles, trying to change the subject. Tim tries to calm his sisters down, already knowing the situation at hand.

"Not until you tell me what's going on!" Ziva yells.

"They're dead Ziva. Catherine and Ronald died last night" Tony growls, hanging his head. Ducky looks at him with a disappointed look.

"What?" Abby asks.

"What are you talking about Tony?" Ziva asks.

"What?" Abby repeats.

"Yes ok!? They're dead!" Tony yells.

"Let us sort this out at home shall we?" Ducky offers.

"You knew about this and neglected to tell us? Tony what were you possibly thinking!?" Ziva yelled at her brother she lunges at him and holds him against Jen's desk.

"I was trying to protect you!" Tony yelled.

"Bullshit!" Ziva yells and pins him. Tim grabs Ziva and pulls her off. This surprised Ducky by how strong Tim could be. Abby was already crying and handing on to Ducky for support. Tony stands up.

"It's not my fault" He defends.

"But you didn't tell us!" Ziva was growing emotional, something she does more now that she's in America.

"Let us go to the break room shall we?" Ducky suggests lightly, though it was more of a command to break up the scene that unfolded that had other agents staring. Ducky had both Ziva and Tony by the shoulders and led them down to the break room. Ducky sat them down in the chairs, Abby crying into Ducky's pant leg and Tim standing back in the corner not making eye contact with his siblings. "This was unacceptable behavior! We are in a time of great stress and this is not the time to be acting like fools!" Ducky bursts out in anger. "Just wait until I…" Ducky was cut off as the alarm for an intruder went off.

The Gibbs children all looked around in horror, not knowing what the sound was. Ducky looked at them. "Under the table." He orders in a voice similar to Jethro's. The children oblige and hide underneath the small break room table. Ducky closed the door and stood nearby with a chair in his hands poised for attack.

A dark figure walks down the hallway. His footsteps are loud and clunky as he stops in front of the break room door. He is huge and strong, Ziva tried to make out a face on the shadow but couldn't. Abby was whimpering, Tim held her as the man jiggles the handle of the door. Ducky looks at the door out of the corner of his eye. The man pulls out a weapon. Tony guesses it's a standard pistol.

Getting angry the man kicks the door in to the break room.


	11. Break In

**Ah! Cliffies, I do so love them. All non-NCIS characters are property of me and my tormented mind. Any similarities they have to the real world are only due to my new-found psychic powers.**

"This is crazy. We shouldn't have barged in on them like that" Jen rubs her temples referring to the questioning they had to do with Peters' family. "They were still so torn up about it. I feel so bad Jethro" Jethro didn't respond and only pressed the accelerator harder. Jen sensed something was wrong. "Jethro?" She asks.

"NCIS has been broken into." Jethro growls. Jen's eyes grow wide.

"What? Jethro, how do you…?" She was cut off as Jethro answers.

"The gut Jen." Jethro turns a sharp corner and they are only a few blocks away.

"Come out, come out wherever you are" The man says as he enters into the dark room. Ducky bursts out from behind the door with the chair. The big man held his arm up to defend the chair as it broke. The man charged at the doctor, his elderly frame couldn't take the blow against the counter. Abby was scared that Ducky wouldn't get up. He was only passed out. The man with his clunky boots comes closer to them.

"Now!" Tony yells and the kids leap out from the table. Abby split and ran to Ducky, Tim went for the mans legs. Tony lunged on top of him and Ziva used her Mossad training to get the gun out of his hands.

A shot was fired into the air. Tony had his arms locked around the mans neck. The man grabbed the young teenager and threw him into the floor. Tony heard the thud as he got the wind knocked out of him as he falls. Abby then charges into the tall man, pushing him forward. He grows angry and reaches for his gun. Ziva grabs his arm and tries to pull the gun away. The man elbows Ziva in the jaw, firing a few more shots. Tim tries to pull the man down. Tony still couldn't get up and Ziva was bleeding.

"Abby! Grab something!" Tim orders. Abby was resourceful and finds a pen on the floor and stabs the man in the side. He yells out in pain. Aiming the gun at Abby. He fires and she screams as the bullet grazes her arm as Tim punches the man in the knee. He falls to the floor and Tony comes up and punches the man in the face. He drops his gun and Ziva kicks it away. Tony stands over the man. Punching him repeatedly in the face.

It was then that Jethro and Jen barge in the room. The rest of NCIS on lockdown, not realizing what was going on inside the break room. Jethro moved Tony off of the man. Shoving him into a wall and handcuffing him. Jen dropped her weapon, running to her children, beaten and bruised.

"My babies! Ducky! What the hell happened?" Jen was hysterical to say the least. Abby only mumbled incoherent words and holds her arm. Ziva spit out the blood and pulled the weapon off of the floor, taking out the unfired bullets. Ducky was still unconscious. Tony had a few bruises and held his chest in pain. Tim was certain he had a black eye and hugged his mother as she wrapped her arms around Abby.

Director Vance races down to the break room. Seeing the blood on the floor and Jethro with a tall un-identified man in the corner startled him.

"What the hell is going on?" Leon lowers his gun.

"We want to know as much as you do." Jethro says and escorts the man into the interrogation rooms.

"Jen, get the kids down to autopsy. I'll take Ducky" Leon orders and lets Ducky use him as a crutch to walk down to autopsy. Jen leads her kids down to autopsy.

Ducky woke up dazed and a little confused down in autopsy. Jimmy Palmer was on his way to NCIS after taking the day off. Jethro came back down after the man was put into interrogation.

"His name is Isaac Freemont." Jethro set the manila file in front of Leon Vance.

"Do you want me to interrogate him?" Leon asks.

"No. I'll do it" Jethro states. Leon didn't even bother to challenge Jethro's decision. Jethro walks over to where his children are sitting, all fitting on the same silver metallic autopsy table. Using a first aid kit that Ducky always kept in his desk Jen had wrapped up Abby's arm. Put ice on Tim's eye, bandaged and iced Ziva's jaw and tongue (which she accidentally bit) and bandaged Tony's chest.

"Jen, take the kids home. Get them adequate medical care." Leon orders. She nods in agreement.

"No. I want to see the sick son of a bitch who attacked us!" Tony snapped, standing up off of the medical table, wincing a little bit as the pain rushed through him.

"I am with Tony. I want to see what that man has to say for himself" Ziva says, standing with her brother. Jen and Jethro look to Tim.

"I'll go. I want to see the man whose legs I tackled" Tim puffed up with pride as he stepped down off the table as well.

"You'll be a regular linebacker Tim" Tony rolls his eyes. Abby stands as well.

"I wanna go to" she says and Jethro looks to Jen. Jen bit her bottom lip, not sure if she should. Jethro just stares at her and she folds.

"Fine. But we're heading home immediately after!" Jen states. Jethro heads to interrogation, Director Vance not too far behind followed by the Gibblets.


	12. Superhero

**Almost finished! One chapter left afterthis! Ha! **

Jethro opens the door to the interrogation room. The man, identified as Isaac Freemont, sits silently at the table staring into the one-way window opposite him.

On the other side stood all four of the Gibblets, Jen their mother, and director Leon Vance. Jethro sets the manila file on the table. Pictures of both Dylan Sprigg and James Peters in their marine uniforms spilled out. "What do you know about these two men?" Jethro asks.

"I've never seen 'em before in my life" Freemont reclines in his chair arrogantly.

"Liar!" Jethro slams his fists on the table. Behind the glass the Gibblets jumped a little whereas Jen and Leon stood completely still. "You did know them! You were marine buddies!" Jethro doesn't assume, he knows.

"Sure Sergeant Gibbs. I knew them." Freemont puts his hands behind his head in a cocky fashion. "We were marine buddies. Best friends. And you took that away from us"

"How?" Jethro asks, his voice never faltering in the slightest bit.

"Dylan Sprigg and I were war buddies. We kept in touch." He explains.

"Why did you kill him then?" Jethro asked.

"Who said I killed him?" Freemont cocks his eyebrows.

"We have a match on the fingerprints found in Spriggs home to yours." Jethro remained calm.

"Sure then, I must've killed him. Is that what your little lab rat found out is it?" Freemont leaned forward in his chair challenging Jethro. Jethro's stare is still as cold as stone.

"Can you explain this?" Jethro holds out the picture Ron took of Sprigg's house and the pictures of pictures inside of it. Jethro picks up on a look of disappointment etched on Freemont's face.

"Nope I can't" Freemont sits back in his chair.

"Bullshit!" Jethro yells, slamming his hands on the table. "If Sprigg was your buddy why did he take these pictures and why are you in them?" Jethro asks sternly.

"Coincidence" Freemont still looked arrogant that he would get away.

"If you knew me, you'd know I don't…" Jethro starts to say but Freemont cuts in.

"Believe in coincidences. I know" Freemont smiles overconfidently. Jethro goes back to his files.

"Did you know a James Peters?" Jethro asks, playing dumb. Freemont's eyes go glossy as he remembers.

"You know the answer to that" Freemont snaps.

"Old age makes a mind slip Freemont" Jethro lies.

"Peters and I have known each other since grade school. We were best friends as long as we can both remember. He was like a brother to me and I had nowhere to go. We enlisted in the marines together. We liked it. We were deployed to Iraq together." Freemont spits the answer out.

"What else?" Jethro asks.

"You know us Agent Gibbs. We served under you. It was tough but we lived. Got around to meetin' this Dylan kid. Fresh faced sniper in training. You remember him don't ya?" Freemont tilts his head trying to get an answer out of him. "He was a good kid. Played by the rules too much though. We were the best of friends. Then you took that all away!" Freemont snarls. "You're the one who didn't do anything when Jimmy got killed by friendly fire! You left him there to wallow in agony as he slowly died in the sand!" Freemont lashes out, standing up and kicking his chair. "After that Dylan abandoned me. He wanted to do his own thing and not be tied down my me!" Freemont was red in the face from the yelling. "I had no one else! You destroyed my only family by letting Jimmy die! So I vowed to destroy yours!" Freemont smiled.

"Seems like you failed to me" Jethro remained calm through all of this and sat with his arms across his chest silently looking at the man.

"I did not! I killed Dylan first because I knew he was following me! He was in the way!" Freemont starts to confess. "He was the one who didn't seem to care about Jimmy! I had to kill him. I dragged him to the junkyard knowing your youngest goes there all the time." Freemont states triumphantly, alluding to the months he spent stalking the Gibbs family. "The rest was a piece of cake. Especially your agent and scientist. They went down with a fight. You would be so proud, they way they wouldn't tell me anything about you." Freemont smirks in his own self-righteousness. "But they couldn't outlast me"

"And you still failed multiple times at killing my children, my wife and I" Jethro states bluntly and emotionless, trying to hide the pain of loosing Special Agent Taylor and Forensic Scientist, Cat. Behind the glass Jen was livid that Jethro brought that up so calmly when her emotions felt like a big-top circus.

"I did not fail! Your kids ran in the mall and had a gun in the house! They hid in the fuckin' basement!" Freemont admitted. "I could've taken them out easily." Freemont stated egocentrically.

"Why didn't you?" Jethro asks. "If it was as easy as you say it was."

"I broke into NCIS didn't I? I almost had your children. I almost had them! Then you would know what it was like to loose your family!" Jethro stood up and slapped the man hard in the face.

"You are under arrest." Jethro picked him up and slammed him into the soundproof wall. "Of murder, assault, breaking and entering, attempted murder and destroying government property"

"Prove it!" Freemont yells.

"I have fingerprints and a confession." Jethro states, calmly. Behind the glass director Vance tells the sound technician to replay the tape.

"_I broke into NCIS didn't I? I almost had your children. I almost had them!" _Freemont looked like he got kicked in the gut as he was being escorted out by Jethro his face hard. Director Vance intercepted him took Freemont so Jethro could talk to his family in private.

"Wow…Daddy, you're like one of the superheroes in Timmy's comic books!" Abby smiles brightly, her green eyes growing wide. Jen looks at her husband, a look of relief and confusion crossed it.

"Let's go home," Jethro states, picking up his youngest and they all walk out of NCIS.


	13. Who Watches The Watchmen?

**The last chapter! So, I've had this done for awhile now. But my internet wants to kill me. No joke. Also, my other story, Sober, will be done shortly, internet permitting.**

The car ride was long, Tim was playing his hand-held videogame, Ziva was reading her novel and Tony and Abby were playing some sort of "I Spy" game for neither one of them wanted to sit still and Ducky was in the back of the van sleeping.

They packed for the trip only a few days after Freemont was arrested and found guilty. The funeral for Ron and Cat was going to be held in Massachusetts so they had to drive there on short notice. Director Vance followed in the black government issued sedan.

Although the noise from Tim's game, the pages in Ziva's book, the constant chatter of Tony and Abby, the snoring of Ducky and Jen's instructions on the road annoyed him to no end, Jethro had to smile. The van could've been silent and empty and that would've been a lot worse.

"Exit 112!" Jen points and Jethro swerves the van off of the highway and onto the exit. All of the passengers swerve to the side. Ducky jerks awake.

"Women and Children first!" He sits up and looks around. Ziva snickers at her uncle's antics.

"Are we there yet?" Abby asks.

"No." Jethro growls, following Jen's instructions to the hotel they were staying at.

"Timmy!" Tony leans forward in his seat to his younger brother sitting in front of him. "There's a spider on your back" He jokes, Tim freaks out, swatting his back in a panic, Tony sits back and laughs. Tim blushes a bright red, his brother constantly torments him about his fear of spiders.

"Not funny Tony" Tim states meekly as Tony wipes a tear of laughter from his eye.

"Hey Ziva watch reading'?" Abby leans forward to her older sister sitting in front of her and looks over her shoulder to the thick book in front of her.

"It's not for you" Ziva answers, shutting the thick novel.

"Why not?" Abby asks as her black pigtails bob in the air as she cocks her head.

"Because" Ziva responds.

"Because why?" Abby continues.

"Jethro, honey, the entrance to the hotel was that way!" Jen points out as Jethro passed the drive. He pulls into a gas station to turn the van around.

The commotion in the van was enough to make him yell at them. But he didn't, this was his family and he was here for them, to protect them no matter what. Because this whole fiasco that ended with the death of two of his teammates and a murderer behind bars brought one question to his mind that he knows will haunt him for years to come.

Who Watches the Watchmen?


End file.
